Peter Molyneux Talks Fable 2

Possibly the best interviewee in the games industry talks to Kikizo once more to get all loose-lipped about Fable 2 and being part of Microsoft's gaming empire. Plus: Is Project 'Dimitri' actually... Fable 2?!

Peter Molyneux says that now his Lionhead Studios is part of Microsoft, they're more independent than when they were an independent developer. And for Lionhead's many fans, the Microsoft buyout raises more questions than answers. Not all of the questons have answers right now - at least, not ones Molyneux is in a position to give - but that's exactly the best kind of time to talk to Peter.

Kikizo.com caught up with Peter recently to learn more about the enormous sequel that is Fable 2, and they are speculating some rather interesting theories based on his various answers. Could Fable 2 in fact BE the near-legendary secret project known as Dimitri? Kikizo offer their thoughts within this latest in-depth chat with Peter.

Kikizo: Peter thanks for your time as always. Let's start with Fable 2. The trailer looked very cool indeed. How much are we going to get out of you about it today?

Peter Molyneux: I'm here, sadly, to not really talk about Fable 2, since we're not talking about the details of Fable 2 at the moment. I can't really talk to you about what else we're working on at Lionhead, because it's all too new, but I can't resist giving you some of the ideas that are bobbling around in our minds about what our approach is to development. So, although I can't tell you feature by feature, there are some things I can say, especially about how we are approaching it as a sequel, and how this is part of the plan of the Fable story, and the flow of the Fable story.

Kikizo: We know there was a lot of content cut from the original Fable due to time constraints. Will some of this be appearing in Fable 2?

Molyneux: Well, there was... hmmm. Well, that's an interesting question. In the trailer, there are hidden some little hints about some of the features that are going to be in Fable 2. Definitely, when you're approaching a sequel, you can sit down and say "Okay, we know what we're making, these are the things that people enjoy, we'll do more of that." That's definitely NOT how we're approaching Fable 2. First and foremost, we wanted to say, "Right... we've got to surprise people, we've got to amaze people..." and part of the reason some people enjoyed Fable 1 was they felt they were gonna play a game in a way they've never played one before. They've got to feel that again in Fable 2, and that means introducing all new features.

Now there were some features that didn't make it into Fable 1 - famously, there was the little acorn growing into a big oak tree... which my big mouth let off before we really tested the effects on the framerate and we didn't put it in. And, sure enough, I, you know, that immersive, changeable world is very important to me. There are things like the concept of freedom, and how much freedom do we give you... whether there are things like free roaming, I think are very important things for us. But, for me, it's surprises that you don't even guess, or couldn't know what we are going to do in Fable 2. And there are a couple of those that are... quite off the wall.

When I presented them to the team I said, "OK, this is the way we work it right here." We all think about what we're going to do, and then, I tend to sort of chip in and say, "OK, that is really good, but here's what I'd like to see." One of those things certainly, that I said to the team... everybody looked to me as if I was just completely insane. They said, "how is that going to work?" I think... I'd have to show you the feature. If I TOLD you the feature, you'd think I was... just mad. So, the answer to your question is, "Yes, there's things that we sort of discovered in Fable 1 that we want to do in Fable 2, but there's also a huge toybox of things you'd never expect. That's a long answer to a very short question!

Kikizo: So, you're looking forward to doing these new things with of the increased power of the newer platform?

Molyneux: Yeah, it's the power of the platform. Here's the things, these are the good things about Fable 2. One is that it's on next generation, it's on an incredibly powerful platform, there's a lot more memory to deal with, there is - and I'm not saying there's any secret feature, just think about what online and Live means to something like Fable... I'm not saying, you know, that there's a specific feature, but as a designer I find that absolutely fascinating - so that's really different. And there's all the things about customization, customizing the world, the choices and consequences, that was a really big thing in Fable 1 that I thought was very important. You kind of... you know, you found out a little about yourself, and we really want to extend that , so there's a lot of reasons why Fable will be, you know, a truly customizable game.

If Lionhead wants to make Fable 2 a great success, it must be longer! I mean the first Fable was amazing, innovative and held my interest until the end.The only problem was the "end" was only around 11 hours later, finishing every main quest and side quest.

Halo 2 had a very short campaign, but everyone still plays it alot. My roomate and I finished it on the second day, the day after launch. But still play it on our 360's all the time. Replay value is good in my opinion, I have never played a single game as much as H2, so I feel I got my moneys worth on that one. Just an example. If there is no multiplayer, it does need longer gameplay though you are right, just not all of them.

Anybody pick up any of these? I would say that one scene suggests that not only can you play as a female, but you can also play 2 player co-op (my wife was really disappointed when these two features got cut...)

a new Dungeon Keeper. That was the first PC game I played for 3 years straight and I still think the design of that game is one of the greatest. Yes, DK2 was buggy and a bit lame but I'd still pop for the 3rd one to be dusted off the shelves and given a re-tinkering for the 360. Anyone agree?

I think the first one was great! and i will be picking up this one too. See Sonyfans MS's starting to come out with weird games too. Weird is good every once in a while, there's a good weird like this game, and there's silly/stupid weird like most PS games. lol

you can make enough time squeeze populus 1+2 on to live arcade with a usb mouse and 4 player battle this would rock not many people got the oppertunity to play them in the system link mode Great interview a good read nice find Janx

It did well enough to release Fable : The Lost Chapters. Which wasn't even a sequel but the same game with extended play and missions. It reviewed well and is widely considered a good game. Though truthfully it was missing promised features.

This is what I thought that he was "hinting" at. I think he might be thinking about a MMORPG, whether it is Fable 2 or another game. Also, What the hell happened to BC (sounds like that it is still in the "hopper")?

Although i didnt really care for the 1st fable game..i like what it was tryin to do..dont get me wrong it sorta acomplished it but..the game was way too short especially for the type of game it was...lets hope this 1 is a hell of a lot longer..

i have a ps2 at the moment and have never had an xbox, but i did borrow my friends JUST for fable. i loved that game. im thinking of getting an xbox 360 just for this game. (and of course cos xbox 360 is cheaper). i hope it ends up actually looking like those screen shots:)